KQAM (1480 AM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

. It carries a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

format and is owned by Steckline Communications, along with

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

KGSO KGSO (1410 AM, "Sports Radio 93.9 FM & 1410 AM KGSO") is an American broadcast radio station licensed to serve the community of Wichita, Kansas. The station is owned and operated by Steckline Communications Inc. The station was assigned curre ...

and classic country KGHF. The

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

s and offices are on South Maize Road in Wichita. By day, KQAM is powered at 5,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s; to protect other stations on

1480 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1480 kHz: 1480 AM is a Regional broadcast frequency. Argentina * Radio Centro Dolores in Dolores, Buenos Aires. * APP1480 in La Matanza, Buenos Aires. Mexico * XECARH-AM in Cardonal, ...

, it reduces power to 1,000 watts at night. It uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

at all times with a four-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is off East 29th Street North in Wichita, near Chisholm Creek.

Programming

Weekdays on KQAM begin with a news, farm reports and information show, "The Morning News with John Wright." The rest of the weekday line up includes

nationally syndicated Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

conservative talk Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

show hosts, including:

Brian Kilmeade Brian Kilmeade (born May 7, 1964) is an American television and radio presenter and political commentator for Fox News. On weekdays, he co-hosts the morning show '' Fox & Friends'' and he hosts the Fox News Radio program ''The Brian Kilmeade Sh ...

Dan Bongino Daniel John Bongino (born December4, 1974) is an American government official, Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator, radio host, and former law enforcement officer who has served as the 20th Deputy Director of ...

Todd Starnes Todd Starnes (born October 28, 1967) is a conservative American columnist, commentator, author and radio host. He has appeared on ''Fox & Friends'' and ''Hannity''. In June 2017, Starnes began hosting a broadcast syndication, syndicated talk rad ...

, Andy Hooser,

Joe Pags Joseph John Pagliarulo (born August 1, 1966), also known on the air as Joe Pags, is an American nationally syndicated conservative television and radio talk show host. Biography Born in Amityville, New York, Pagliarulo later lived in nearby C ...

Jim Bohannon James Everett Bohannon (January 7, 1944 – November 12, 2022) was an American broadcaster who worked in television and radio and hosted the nationally syndicated late night radio talk show ''The Jim Bohannon Show'' originally broadcast on the ...

, ''

America in the Morning ''America in The Morning'' is a news program airing on numerous talk radio stations, syndicated by Westwood One, a subsidiary of Cumulus Media. The one-hour live program airs weekdays at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time and is hosted by John Tro ...

with John Trout'' and '' First Light with Michael Toscano''. Starting at 4 p.m., Andy Hooser hosts “The Voice of Reason,” a conservative talk show directed at millennials. Hooser has extended his show to national networks due to his success. Weekends feature shows on home repair, technology, movies, beer, cigars and farm news. Weekend syndicated hosts include

Larry Elder Laurence Allen Elder (born April 27, 1952) is an American conservative political commentator and talk radio host. He hosts ''The Larry Elder Show'', based in California. The show began as a local program on Los Angeles radio station KABC in 199 ...

Leo Laporte Leo Laporte (; born November 29, 1956) is the former host of ''The Tech Guy'' weekly radio show and founder of TWiT.tv, an Internet podcast network focusing on technology. He is also a former TechTV technology host (1998–2008) and a technology a ...

, Mark Moss,

Kim Komando Kimberly Ann Komando (born July 1, 1967) is an American radio personality and the host of two daily radio shows and one weekend radio show about consumer technology. On her weekly call-in show, she provides advice about technology gadgets, websi ...

. World and national news is provided by

CBS Radio News CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...

History

On October 7, 1936, the station

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air as KANS, representing the word Kansas. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was owned by Swanco Broadcasting. Its

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

was KLEO, and for many years, was a popular

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

station. On September 2, 1980, KLEO flipped to

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

as KWKN. On March 8, 1982, KWKN flipped to a simulcast of its then-FM sister station KGCS-FM, which aired a

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

format. On October 21, 1982, after being purchased by Jack Sampson, owner of Hutchinson radio station KSKU, the KLEO call letters returned, as well as the adult contemporary format. The station flipped to MOR/

adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...

on September 24, 1984. On October 5, 1989, KLEO flipped to traditional country as KZSN, complementing sister station KZSN-FM's contemporary country format. KZSN would eventually give way to a simulcast with the FM station; this lasted until September 25, 1997, when it assumed KQAM's call letters and flipped to

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

. In 2002, the station was sold to

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

from

Entercom Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...

for $2 million. With the sale, KQAM became Wichita's

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

on July 23, 2002.Suzanne Perez Tobias, "Radio Disney to launch Wichita station Tuesday", ''The Wichita Eagle'', July 19, 2002. On November 12, 2009, Disney/

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

announced that they would sell KQAM to Steckline Communications. According to Greg Steckline, the owner of the company, he wasn't aiming to purchase but "this one just kind of happened. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time." Steckline paid $350,000 for KQAM. On January 6, 2010, KQAM dropped Radio Disney, unveiling the lineup for its talk format as a companion to its

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

. Steckline Communications also owns KIUL (

Garden City, Kansas Garden City is a city in and the county seat of Finney County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 28,151. The city is home to Garden City Community College and the Lee Richa ...

), KYUL (

Scott City, Kansas Scott City is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 4,113. History Early history For millennia, the Great Plains of North America were inhabited by nomad ...

), and KGYN (

Guymon, Oklahoma Guymon ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Texas County, in the panhandle of Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 12,965, an increase of 13.3% from 11,442 in 2010, and represents more than half of the pop ...

KQAM began simulcasting on translator K273CX (102.5 FM) in October 2016. The simulcast would be dropped in May 2022, when the translator began simulcasting recently acquired sister station KHLT-FM's HD2 sub-channel.

References

External links

* ( Guide to reading History Cards) {{coord, 37, 44, 21, N, 97, 16, 14, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title QAM News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1987 1987 establishments in Kansas